OLD GRUMPY

August 1998 Table of Contents - Current Issue of The Abaco Journal - Abaco Bahamas' Home Page

OLD GRUMPY
[Our Curmudgeon at Large]

Nassau got them. Freeport got them. We ain't got them. The third city of The Bahamas lacks one of the defining indicators of social and economic progress: Road markings.

Now and then you'll find a white line to indicate a stop sign or a pedestrian crossing, but these have obviously been done with household paint and wear away quickly. Tourists heading out in their newly rented cars, facing an alien driving situation, must be mystified by the lack of white paint on the road. The word STOP in five foot tall letters is much more effective than a red sign with a tree growing in front of it.

Even Abaco natives would appreciate a line down the middle of the road here and there. Several bends, particularly the one on Forest Drive, really need to be marked. Oncoming drivers cut the corner all the time.

The junction where Crockett Drive enters Don MacKay Boulevard by K & S Service Station cries out for lanes to separate traffic turning left or right. And if you drive west on Queen Elizabeth Drive as far as the roundabout, who has right of way - the vehicles on the roundabout or those on the main highway? An accident there would provide a real conundrum to the magistrate because the main road briefly becomes part of a roundabout system without notice. Two streams of traffic assume right of way.

While we're on the topic, how about a few more small but helpful road signs for the tourist. When visitors heading south in the Crossing Rocks area stop you and ask how much further it is to Treasure Cay, you know we have not been very helpful.

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